It was an afternoon to forget for Leverstock Green FC, who crashed to a heavy home defeat to in-form neighbours Colney Heath, and suffered a serious injury. It was a similar line-up to that which had played the last four games unbeaten, except that Ryan Carruthers was absent through suspension, and George Mitchell-Gears started in place of Luke Beckwith.

The visitors opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the game, and it was a goal that Green keeper Josh Bowler will be disappointed with, as a long-range shot from Jack Kimber bounced in front of him and found the net.

A few minutes later Mitchell-Gears went into an innocuous challenge with an opponent, but landed awkwardly. After initially trying to continue, Mitchell-Gears went down in agony and was stretchered off in the 13th minute with what looked like a serious ankle injury.

Three minutes later Leverstock Green FC were two goals down to another avoidable goal, as Jack Percy ran from his own half through the Green defence with barely a challenge before slotting past Bowler to double his side’s lead.

On 24 minutes Leverstock had the chance to pull a goal back when Rio Beach was sent flying by a challenge in the box and the referee awarded a penalty. However, Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica missed for the second Saturday in a row as his kick was comfortably saved by Colney keeper Connor Sansom.

The penalty miss was soon forgotten, as four minutes later Dan Pett swung in a free kick from the right, and Stefanoaica connected with a looping header that went in off the post to reduce the arrears to 2-1 and put Leverstock Green FC back in the game.

However, it was only another three minutes before Colney were two goals back in front, as Kai Thomas-Fraser got up unchallenged to head home a corner at the far post.

In the last minute of first half stoppage time Stefanoaica got on the end of another Pett free kick, but this time his header went into the arms of Sansom, and the scoreline was still 3-1 at half time.

Leverstock Green FC needed to get a goal back and they very nearly did in the 52nd minute. Ethan Mooney’s cross was headed away, but only as far as Luke Beckwith, who hit a shot that rattled the crossbar. Instead of pulling a goal back, Leverstock found themselves further behind four minutes later, Bowler pulled off a good save to keep out a shot, but the rebound was not cleared and George Sippetts had an easy chance to shoot home from close range.

That put paid to any chance of a comeback, although Beckwith was unlucky again in the 76th minute as he struck the woodwork again, this time with a shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded across goal, but didn’t go in.

It was only Leverstock’s second league defeat since early October, but they will need to turn things around quickly with further home games against Crawley Green and Tring Athletic between Christmas and New Year.

Leverstock Green FC (1) 1 (Stefanoaica 28)
1. Josh Bowler, 2. Ethan Mooney, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Paul Marks (18. Luke Durnin 63 mins), 5. Callum Neal, 6. Nat Connolly (17. Mikey Havill-Tierney 75 mins), 7. Jayden Newman (14. Lewis Collins 59 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Rawn Seale, 10. George Mitchell-Gears (12. Luke Beckwith 13 mins), 11. radu-Mihai Stefanoaica 16. Callum Moore 81 mins).
Colney Heath FC (3) 4 (Kimber 4, Percy 16. Thomas-Fraser 31, Sippetts 56)
1. Connor Sansom, 2. Kai-Thomas-Fraser, 3. Bradley Dixon-Smith, 4. Ollie Seeby, 5. Jamie Willing (12. Sam Denham 84 mins), 6. Chad King, 7. Jack Percy (15. James Samways 61 mins), 8. Sam Ejjayha, 9. George Sippetts (17. Adam Wallace 84 mins), 10. Jack Kimber (14. Micky Shuttlewood 89 mins), 11. Ollie Lawford. Sub not used: 16. Jordan Kinoshi.

Leverstock Green had to settle for a point from their home game against Potton United in the SSML Premier Division on Saturday. Leverstock dominated the first half and had enough chances to have built a comfortable lead, but they could only find the net once, and a spirited comeback by Potton in the second half saw them equalise and come away with a deserved point.

This game was the only SSML Premier Division fixture to go ahead on a grass pitch on Saturday, with all others falling due to frozen pitches. The Pancake Lane pitch was in superb condition, with the intermittent fog during the afternoon causing more problems than the freezing temperatures.

Leverstock went close to going in front in the 5th minute with a Rio Beach shot from the edge of the box going just wide. The goal arrived in the 10th minute. A corner was headed away, but only as far as Dan Pett, who hit a shot through a crowd of players that took a deflection and beat keeper James Hoskins.

There should have been a second goal in the 13th minute when a cross from Ethan Mooney found Luke Beckwith at the far post, but Beckwith’s shot was cleared off the line by a defender. A minute later a cross from Beach went through to Pett at the far post, but came to him too quickly to get a controlled shot away, and it went wide.

In the 18th minute a pass from Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica put Rawn Seale through on goal, but his shot was saved by Hoskins, who denied Leverstock again in the 27th minute by tipping a shot from Stefanoaica over the bar. In the 37th minute Stefanoaica made a solo run into the box but again he could not beat Hoskins, who turned the shot wide. From the resulting corner a header from Ryan Carruthers was headed off the line by a defender.

The slender nature of the Leverstock lead was shown in the 42nd minute as Potton went close to equalising with their first chance. James Smith got on the end of a free kick with a header that hit the bar.

The second half was played in difficult conditions as the fog made it hard to see from one side of the pitch to the other. Leverstock were unable to produce the same free-flowing football they had played in the first half, and the Potton defence stepped up a gear to limit their chances. Potton levelled the scores in the 63rd minute, with Smith coming in unmarked to head home a corner.

The remainder of the game was evenly-contested with Potton often looking the more likely to score, although Josh Bowler did not have a serious save to make. Nat Connolly had Leverstock’s best effort of the half in the 77th minute but his shot went just wide. Leverstock should have had a penalty for handball deep into stoppage time but the referee waved away the protests, and the game ended soon after as a 1-1 draw.

Leverstock Green (1) 1 (Pett 10)
1. Josh Bowler, 2. Ethan Mooney, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Paul Marks (17. Dan Weeks 31 mins), 5. Callum Neal, 6. Ryan Carruthers (12. George Mitchell-Gears 65 mins), 7. Luke Beckwith (15. Jayden Newman 74 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Rawn Seale, 10. Nat Connolly, 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica. Subs not used: 14. Danny May, 16. Joe Sadler.
Potton United (0) 1 (Smith 63)
1. James Hoskins, 2. Mike Evans, 3. Harry Forde, 4. Phil Payne (14. Josh Howard-Dobson 74 mins), 5. James Smith, 6. Richard Chadwick, 7. Nigel Chikamba (17. Fadil Padori 84 mins), 8. Michael King, 9. Lewis Lynn, 10. Victor Osobu, 11. Nathan Mullins. Subs not used: 12. Deshon Lewis-Burgess, 15. Neil Morris, 16. John Sonuga.

At start of play FC Romania were in third place and Leverstock Green FC were in fifth place, but by the final whistle those positions had reversed as Leverstock hit the top three of the SSML Premier Division with another impressive result.

It was a tight game of few chances, especially in the first half. The game’s first serious effort on goal came in the 22nd minute when Romania’s Tobi Coker hit a shot on target, but it was comfortably saved by Leverstock Green FC keeper Josh Bowler. A minute later at the other end the game sprung into life as Leverstock took the lead with a bolt from the blue. Luke Beckwith cut in from the left to the edge of the penalty area, then unleashed a ferocious right-footed shot that flew past the outstretched arm of visiting keeper Conor Beattie into the net.

That looked like being the only action of note until first half stoppage time. A crossfield pass from Ryan Carruthers found Rio Beach outside the left corner of the penalty area with three defenders ahead of him, but somehow Beach’s mazy run took him past all three of them before slotting a shot past Beattie to send Leverstock Green FC  into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Coker continued to be the main danger man for the visitors in the second half. On 55 minutes he got his boot onto a cross from the right but it was gathered by Bowler, and three minutes later Coker broke away but his eventual shot was kept out by Bowler, who also did well to claim the ball to end a goalmouth scramble from the ensuing corner.

In the 64th minute a rash challenge in the box from Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica resulted in the referee awarding the visitors a penalty, and Zenon Stylianidis converted the spot kick to put his side back in the game at 2-1.

There were a couple of further near-misses from Coker as Romania piled on the pressure, but Leverstock Green FC held onto their lead and with two minutes remaining re-established their two-goal cushion. A foul on Stefanoaica gave Leverstock a free kick in a dangerous position. Dan Pett hit a superb effort which came back off the post, and George Mitchell-Gears was on hand to head home the rebound for a 3-1 lead.

However, Leverstock Green FC supporters have come to expect tense finishes, and there was another one here. Two minutes into stoppage time a missed challenge on the edge of the box allowed Coker through to steer a shot past Bowler and reduce the arrears to 3-2. The referee played several more minutes of stoppage time, but again Leverstock were able to hold out for another big three points which keeps them in the Premier Division play-off spots.

Leverstock Green FC (2) 3 (Beckwith 23, Beach 45+2, Mitchell-Gears 88)
1. Josh Bowler, 2. Ethan Mooney, 3. Rio Beach, 4. Paul Marks, 5. Callum Neal, 6. Ryan Carruthers (12. Ademide Baruwa 84 mins), 7. Luke Beckwith (15. George Mitchell-Gears 72 mins), 8. Dan Pett, 9. Rawn Seale (16. Jayden Newman 81 mins), 10. Nat Connolly, 11. Radu-Mihai Stefanoaica (14. Lewis Collins 90+4 mins). Sub not used: 17. Brad Robinson.
FC Romania FC (0) 2 (Stylianidis 64 pen, Coker 90+2)
1. Conor Beattie, 2. Marius Patru, 3. German Petrov, 4. Johan Becka, 5. Phil Lowen (20. Stephane Ngamvoulou 80 mins), 6. Goncalves Da Cruz (17. Arti Krasniqi 53 mins), 7. Williams Danquah (15. Zivonimir Lopes 84 mins), 8. Tobi Coker, 9. Lanre Balogun, 10. Zenon Stylianidis, 11. Malik Nosiku (16. Laste Dombaxe 90+2 mins). Sub not used: 12. Lubomir Georgiev.